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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 4 what does Dillard use for controlling garden insects?
(a) bats
(b) frogs
(c) praying mantises
(d) ladybugs

2. Thinking about God and nature, what does Dillard come to believe is possible?
(a) nature is a God unto itself
(b) nature has created God
(c) God was sleeping and messed up some of nature
(d) God has created much, if not all, of creation in jest

3. According to Dillard, how is the past healed?
(a) if one stays in the present, the past is healed
(b) by meditating on forgiveness
(c) by focusing on the future
(d) by ignoring it

4. Where does Dillard makes a pilgrimage to every month?
(a) the the local church
(b) the island that bisects Tinker Creek
(c) the small town a few miles away
(d) to visit her mother in another state

5. What does Dillard say hinders people from experiencing the now?
(a) humans don't like to be in the now
(b) humans are always looking into the future
(c) being too aware of self, rather than the moment
(d) there is no now

Short Answer Questions

1. Dillard opens this first chapter remembering this animal.

2. Why does Dillard believe humans are vulnerable?

3. Why did early Eskimos love winter?

4. What does Dillard's fascination and stories about praying mantises demonstrate?

5. How does Dillard think of Tinker Creek in the first chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Dillard uses stories from the pre-modern Eskimo culture throughout this book. Why do you think she connects so strongly with this culture?

2. Dillard still rails against the seeming cruelty of nature; however, what else is she seeing by Chapter 13?

3. Chapter One is titled, "Heaven and Earth in Jest." Why do you think this was the title chosen for this first chapter?

4. Briefly tell the story written in Chapter 15 about a young man and his mother.

5. What does Dillard believe about flowing water?

6. What does Dillard say about the trauma of people blind since birth who get their sight?

7. How is the story about the caddisfly applicable to Dillard's obsession with the present?

8. Dillard remembers once seeing migrating Canadian geese fly, speeding across the duck pond which leads her to think what?

9. What story does Dillard tell about a Native American woman and winter?

10. Why do you think this chapter could have been titled "Potential?"

(see the answer keys)

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